Labor Story

I've been trying to finish this post for weeks!  Hopefully both boys will stay asleep long enough, and I will stay awake long enough, to finish! 

Okay, so our labor excitement began several days before Luke actually arrived....

Labor Scare #1
I had a regular appointment scheduled on Thur, May 22 - Luke's due date. I called the office a few hours before the appointment to ask that a non-stress test be done during my appointment because it seemed that my baby had slowed his movements.  (Caleb was induced because he failed 2 non-stress tests post due date.)  The nurse checked with the doctor who said, "Come in RIGHT NOW."  Okay, guess we're leaving the park and going to the hospital.  Considering I only had 3 hours until my scheduled appointment, the doctor's reaction kind of scared me.  We took Caleb to our neighbor's and packed overnight bags because at this point we had pretty much convinced ourselves that we were about to relive Caleb's labor. 

Whilst packing the nurse called back to tell me that Dr. Noh had changed her mind and I was to go directly to triage rather than their office.  Then I got really freaked out and even more convinced that I was headed for an induction right then.  We called a different neighbor who could watch Caleb overnight if need be, I cried saying goodbye to him, completely overwhelmed with a million emotions and we left. 

Triage was a new experience for me since I was sent directly to a labor room with Caleb.  I got all naked and wired up to their machines and started sweating like crazy in nervousness for the welfare of son and anticipation of the pain!  Happily though, he passed the test with flying colors and POOF we were sent home.  We were both kind of shocked by the outcome, but indeed happy since our baby wasn't in any stress and I could still reach for my goal of going into labor naturally.

Labor Scare #2
We proceeded through the weekend with even greater enthusiasm to both clean the house thoroughly and cherish every moment alone with Caleb.  Sunday morning, about 2:30 am I awoke with a contraction.  Cramping pain.  I was so excited!!!  I just laid in bed for the first, but when the second hit I was convinced they were actually contractions, so I pulled out the notepad and pen to start tracking them and I was just thrilled.  After a few I got bored in between so I plucked my eyebrows and removed my chipping fingernail polish that I did not want in my labor photos! 

By 4:00am I was getting tired, so I decided to start sleeping again between the contraction if I could.  I must have fallen asleep around 4:15 and didn't wake again until 7:00am when Caleb got up and realized that it had been 3 hours since my last contraction.  I was so disappointed!!!  I had texted my mom and my sister during the middle of the night announcing the labor.  I was so sure that Sunday, March 25 was going to be his birthday.  I was disappointed and tired from my contraction party and WAY too emotional to deal with the "You're still pregnant?!" comments at church so I stayed home and slept while the boys went.

Next Doctor Appointment
My next appointment was scheduled for Tuesday morning and my mom was due to arrive Tuesday afternoon.  At this point I had pretty much given up on going to into labor on my own and felt like maybe my body missed that day in class.  Plus, Tyler was getting anxious because he missed a bunch of school already and my mom was going to be here.  It was time!  So I prepared myself to ask for induction, feeling sure I was get an appointment for it Wednesday.


So in I went to see Dr. Laurea (the one who delivered Caleb).  I was only 1 cm dilated, but that alone felt like a HUGE accomplishment for me since I had never heard anything other than "still closed" during either of my pregnancies.  I felt a little less bitter about the contractions on Sunday morning figuring they had awarded me the 1 cm.  I asked for induction and got the reply, "It's still a bit early."  WHAT?  Five days past my due date and at least some progress.  Ugh.  But, I convinced her and she called for an induction.  The earliest appointment available was SUNDAY, APRIL 1!!  A full 10 days post due-date (and a terrible birthday).  Ugh.  Tyler was mad, I was upset... I drove home and got the extra large super-sized burger meals from Wendy's with gallons of Dr. Pepper (which I don't usually drink whilst pregnant) and went home to eat away my sorrows.

My mom came that afternoon and we started making plans to pass the time until baby day on Sunday.  We went out to dinner that night and I ate enough for quintuplets again.  (You saw the pictures.)  We put Caleb to bed, watched some TV, I fell down the stairs (but only on my bum, baby was fine, bum was bruised), and we went to bed.

The Real Deal
Wednesday morning I awoke about 1:30am with contractions.  I was totally annoyed that I was going to have to loose sleep and deal with this pain again for no reason!  So I just tossed and turned and tried to sleep through them for about an hour.  Eventually my hope pushed through the annoyance and convinced me to track my contractions.  At 2:30 I passed my plug and I started believing this could actually be the real deal.  After so many labor scares the thought of real labor actually didn't scare me anymore and I started to get really excited! 

Just 2 contractions later they started coming every 5 minutes and got pretty painful. I had to brace myself and just breathe to get through them.  Between them I felt ok.  By this time I had woken up Tyler and alerted him to the fact that he just might get another son that day... and he better started helping me cause it hurt!!  I got out my "When To Call the Doctor" sheet which states that contracts should be 5 minutes apart for an HOUR before calling.  But after only 25 minutes of them, I was seriously ready for some pain killers even if this wasn't real labor I wanted SOMETHING to intervene with the pain.

So I called.  Dr. Woo had obviously been sleeping but let me come on in.  So we packed our toothbrushes and that's about it cause I wanted to go!  We woke up my mom on the way out and let her know.  I couldn't tell her everything I wanted to cause I was in too much pain and just dragged Tyler out the door. 

I didn't like the car ride.  At least not the painful parts!  The rest was exciting and at least there wasn't any traffic.  We went in the special middle-of-the-night door and checked in, then we were taken to triage where we checked in again.  The same nurse from the non-stress test took us back and looked at me like, "Oh, you're going to try this again?"  I was in too much pain to communicate, "THIS IS DIFFERENT" so I just followed her and did the whole hospital gown and wires thing again.  They made me give a urine sample and can I just say that contracting on the toilet, basically naked, with your husband holding your pee in a cup isn't the best moment?  Kind of funny now, kind of lame then.

While they were trying to get me all hooked up I basically yelled at everyone in the little room cause they were trying to get me to lay in a horrible position during a contraction.  At that point they finally got the hint and rushed in the OB to check me.  AND??  I was dilated to an EIGHT!  YES!  I really am in pain!!  I had been feeling pretty wimpy about how I was handling the pain, but the EIGHT news made me feel totally justified and even a little proud that I hadn't died yet.  At this point it was about 4:00am.  Then I felt terrified that I was too progressed to get an epidural, but they assured me that I wasn't.  However, I was rushed to a labor room and anesthesia was called right away.  At some point during triage my whole body started shaking (which also happened with Caleb) and continued to shake uncontrollably for a few hours.

Of course my labor nurses and the anesthesiologist had lots of questions for me and kept trying to talk to me.  I really couldn't reply during my contractions nor cared enough to and sometimes I really didn't even comprehend what they were saying.  They decided to give me a spinal dose of the pain killer along with my epidural since I was so advanced, which I have to agree was an excellent choice!   My entire left side was completely numb within 5 minutes.  Unfortunately the spinal part didn't work on my right side, so I had to wait around for the epidural to kick in which took 15-20 minutes. 

When I was finally numb I became chatty Kathy and talked with my nurses and felt great.  Dr. Woo came in about 5:00am and I was still 8cm.  I was disappointed to hear that her shift continued until 5:00pm because she was my least favorite doctor of my group.  (But now I LOVE her... read on.)

We chilled and I think Tyler slept a bit after this.  Around 6:00am Dr. Woo found me still 8cm and broke my water.   I started feeling contractions again in this little strip on my right side so anesthesia came back and gave me the biggest dose allowed.  WOW I love that stuff.  Completely numb again.

When Dr. Woo came at 7:00 she found me progressed to 10cm but I wasn't feeling the urge to push yet, so she left with the directive to call her when I felt it.  The urge slowly grew and I called for her close to 8:00.  While we waited for her, I pushed my little epidural button to get every last drop.  That was probably a mistake because by the time she came the urge had calmed.  I pushed through 3 contractions with no progress so Dr. Woo said, "You're not really feeling the urge anymore are you?  We can keep pushing, but it might take a while and you'll be pretty exhausted by the end.  Or we can take a break and wait until you've got the urge so bad that you just have to push."  UM HELLO??  Awesome doctor.  I will wait until my body is completely, on-the-edge, ready.  Thank you!

She came back about 30 minutes later and I was feeling it pretty good.  I pushed through one contraction and he crowned.  So Dr. Woo got all geared up, nurses set-up shop, they called the pediatrician because they thought little Luke might have pooped inside, and I pushed again through the next 3 contractions.  On the first or second push of the 4th contraction, Luke's head came out and I was shocked.  I was expecting to push for so much longer.  His body came with the next push and I was done!  8:57am.  With Caleb I was SO spent after pushing that I just laid back and was in a real daze for several minutes.  But with Luke I was fine and completely aware of everything that happened right after he was born.  I saw Tyler cut the cord and saw them check Luke for mechonium (sp?) (which there was none) and I held him right away. I was talking and ooing and taking pictures.  It was wonderful!!

The next several minutes were busy getting Luke and me all cleaned up, but before long the room quieted down, everyone left and there we were with our little boy.  Of course he didn't have a name yet, but we were already in love.  There really aren't words for the awe and peace and joy and excitement for those first few hours.  It is simply sublime ... and WORTH IT.